Publishing Info: - Originally published in 1952. His first novel. My copy New York: Avon Books, 1982.
Genre: -Novel
Sub-genre: Fantastic Realism
Nationality: -American // Jewish
Time Period: -20th Century
First and Last Read by Dr. Rearick -I first read this in a Mythic Literature class at Lehigh University // Last read it for my own literature of the Fantastic class in the Fall of 1997
Rated: -A+
Use: Mythic Literature // Literature of the Fantastic
Location: -My office (I hope)
"A brilliant and unusual book. . .Malamud's interests go far beyound baseball."
The New York Times
Comments: - This is one of my favorite novels. Every time I read it or watch the Redford movie based on it, I have this deep feeling that I should be move involved with baseball. It may surprise some that I include The Natural within the spectrum of Fantasy. Nothing overtly magical occurs throughout the work; doesn't occure in the movie either. And yet in the background of the novel it is clear that the story is functioning in a mythic archetypal world.